


Cinnamon Stick

by randompedestrian



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: 18-Year-Old Harry, 27-Year-Old Louis, Alternate Universe - Mob, F/M, M/M, Sugar Baby Harry, Sugar Daddy Louis, candle shop worker harry, liam and zayn work for louis, mob boss louis, niall and harry are roomates, probably other things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-20
Updated: 2014-11-22
Packaged: 2018-02-21 20:43:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2481746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randompedestrian/pseuds/randompedestrian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis forgets his mom's birthday, Harry works in the candle shop next to his favorite restaurant</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I came up with this on a long car ride, so it probably sucks. A lot.

On a brisk day in early March, Louis Tomlinson realized he had forgotten to get his mom a birthday present. Luckily for him, as he pulled up to his favorite restaurant for lunch he realized, for the first time that there was a shop next door, with an overhead sign that read "Ruth's Candles and More".   
Figuring he could go in, pick out a candle, and send that with a check, Louis opened the door, causing a bell above him to ring and a banging noise to sound from behind the register. 

"OW! Crap!" A low voice exclaimed from an unseen source. 

Ignoring whoever it was for now, Louis started browsing the shelves of candles, trying not to gag from the overwhelming amount of scents. 

"Can I help you?" The same voice from earlier asked, in a tone far too cheerful for Louis to deal with at that moment. 

He looked behind him to see a long and lanky teenage boy with way too deep dimples, bright green eyes, and floppy curls laying in a mess on top of his head. Louis' mood immediately perked up, as it generally does around cute boys. 

"Yeah, actually. It's my mum's birthday in a few days, and I completely forgot about getting her a present. What would you suggest?" Louis asked the boy, not actually caring about the answer, but he needed this boy to think he had manners.

"Well, that depends. If she likes flowery, clean scents, probably go with something like this one", the boy told him, pointing at a large jar with a light pink candle inside. Louis smelled it and decided against it, as it was far too sweet and would give him a headache. "Alright, how about this one?" He asked, handing Louis another large jar, this one with a rust colored candle. When Louis smelled this one, he knew he had to get it. It was cinnamon, possibly the most prominent scent of his childhood, seeing as his mum always had something with that scent in the house.

"I'll take this one, thanks. How much?" He followed the boy, whose name tag, he realized, read 'Harry'.

As Harry rung him up, Louis tried to figure out a way to ask him to dinner that didn't involve just flat out saying, 'Hey, you're really cute, wanna go to dinner tonight?', because that sounded extremely boring.

"So, when does your shift end tonight, cutie?" Louis asked, internally cringing at how cheesy that sounded.

"Um.... five?" Harry answered, seeming a bit confused.

"Well, write your address down on the receipt and I'll pick you up at 6", Louis told him, causing the boy to flush and fumble around for a pen, scribbling an address down then handing the receipt and bag over.

"Thanks, I'll see you tonight. Wear something nice" Louis said, taking his things and heading out the door, making the bell overhead ring again.

He called Liam to let him know he wouldn't be back today and that if anyone interrupted him for the rest of the day there would be severe consequences. When asked why, Louis just hung up the phone, got into his Jaguar, and headed home to wrap the candle, make dinner reservations, shower, and get ready.

Meanwhile, on Harry's end of things, there was still an hour left until his shift ended, and since it was a slow day there was nothing to distract him from the nerves of going on a date with a man whose name he only knows because he read it off his credit card.

When five o'clock did finally roll around, he rushed to get to the bus that would take him to his apartment so that he could stress about finding 'something nice' to wear. 

Once the bus got to his stop, Harry practically flew out the doors and up to his apartment, slamming the door once he got in and startling his roommate, Niall, who was eating dinner before heading to the club that he worked at.

"Whoa, why are you in such a hurry?" The blonde asked, picking up crisps that had flown off his plate when he jumped up.

"Apparently I have a date tonight and I need something nice to wear but I have basically zero nice clothes and I don't even know this guy and I'm freaking out Ni!" Harry explained, speaking faster than Niall had ever heard.

"Well, sounds like I'm taking the night off to make sure this guy doesn't end up killing you."


	2. Chapter 2

"What do you think he meant by 'dress nice'? Did he mean, like, black jeans and a decent shirt nice, or suit and tie nice? What if I'm not dressed properly? Will he tell me and let me change or will he leave or will he make me go out dressed wrong and oh my God I never should have given him our address", Harry was rambling, causing Niall to groan loudly, wishing he had decided to go to work.

"No, you shouldn't have given our address to a man you can barely say you met, but you do need to calm down. Here, just wear this and I'll answer the door, you pretend to still be getting ready, and if you need to dress up a bit more I'll send some sort of signal and stall him while you change", Niall soothed, handing a nice sweater and a pair of black skinny jeans to his nervous wreck of a best friend.

Seeing that it was already 5:45, Harry rushed Niall out of his room so that he could get dressed and attempt to do something that would make his hair look less atrocious. While he was doing this, outside Louis was pulling up to the apartment complex that looked like a place he would never be seen in a million years, yet here he was, dressed in a pair of fitted black slacks, a plain white t shirt, and a black blazer to pick up a boy he hadn't even formally introduced himself to.

When he knocked on the door of the apartment number that had been written on his receipt it was answered by a boy with blonde hair that was obviously bleached, as the roots were showing through, and bright blue eyes. For a moment Louis thought he had the wrong apartment, until the boy asked, "You Louis?" with a thick Irish accent.

"I am, is Harry here?" 

"Yeah, I'll go get him", the boy told him, leaving Louis standing in the door as he presumably went to get Harry.

Louis decided to invite himself inside and look around the modest looking apartment. Lining a shelf were pictures of Harry and the blonde, the blonde and some other man, and both the boys with what Louis assumed to be their families. In the middle of the room there was a plain brown couch that looked like it would be great to watch movies and cuddle all night on. There was a small kitchen area with a few dishes piled in the sink and crisp bags laying around the counters. It all looked more lived in than any house Louis had ever owned, probably since he was by himself and had maids picking up after him all the time.

As he was looking around, Harry and the blonde boy returned, Harry already blushing because there was a good looking older man in his apartment and who wouldn't be?

"Ready?" Louis asked, looking his date up and down, admiring how adorable he looked with his sweater and bright red cheeks.

"He has to be back by eleven thirty at the latest. If he's not, I will not hesitate to call the police. Also I have a gun", the blonde boy told Louis, lying about the 'owning a gun', and playing the 'overprotective dad on the night of the first date' role.

"Great, so do I", Louis replied, smirking as he pulled up his shirt to reveal the holster attached to his belt, causing Harry to quietly gasp and the other boy to go pale as a sheet.

Taking Harry by the arm, Louis guided him out of the complex and to his car, which he had been mildly worried about leaving in this area.


	3. Chapter 3

When they pulled up to the restaurant, Harry immediately knew he was way out of his league, as the restaurant looked like it the kind of place where a meal costs as much as his uni tuition.

"You look nervous", Louis commented, causing Harry to blush a deep shade of red.

"A little bit, never been somewhere this fancy before", Harry admitted, slightly embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it, if it gets to be too much we can just go and see a movie or something, but I'd prefer if you let me know early on", Louis answered, making the younger boy feel immensely relieved.

"Can we? Go and see a movie?" Harry questioned, hopeful that the older boy would be okay with it.

"Of course, what do you want to go see?"

 

And that's how Harry and Louis' first day changed from a fancy meal at a five star restaurant to seeing Guardians of the Galaxy and Chinese take out at Louis' ginormous mansion.

When they first had pulled up to the house, Harry was even more nervous than he had been pulling up to the restaurant, since he had never really been at a boy's house without anyone else and this boy was a grown man and holy crap was he terrified.

"You can go and make yourself comfortable on the couch, I'm gonna get some plates and drinks for us, then I'll be in" Louis instructed, pointing through a door to a living room that was as big as Harry and Niall's apartment.

Harry went in and sat on the couch, not knowing what to do until Louis got there, so he just twiddled his thumbs, waiting.

Once Louis finally got in, he handed Harry his plate and a Coke, then turned on the TV with the volume low so that they could talk.

The two talked about everything ranging from preschool memories to their families to favorite sports teams and before long they realized it had gotten to be past one in the morning.

"OH CRAP! I need to call Niall! Oh God, he's gonna be worried sick!" Harry exclaimed, launching himself from the couch to get his phone and call his roommate.

"Whoa, calm down, I'm sure he's alright and knows that if you needed him, you'd call," Louis tried to soothe, but it wasn't quite working. At all.

"I'm sure he would know that if you hadn't shown him that you have a gun!" Harry exclaimed, leaving the room to call Niall. 

Once he had finished with that, he returned to the living room, apologizing for freaking out on the other boy. After assuring Harry that it was okay and he wasn't mad (he was, but Harry was already in a fragile state of mind and didn't really need anyone yelling at him right that minute) he told the younger boy that he should stay the night, as it was getting quite late.

This, logically, scared Harry, as he had never stayed the night at someone else's house without another person and here was this nearly thirty year old, extremely attractive, gun- owning man who he had just met that morning, asking him to stay the night. But, seeing as Louis had driven him and he didn't want to have an awkward car ride back across London, he agreed to staying.

Louis got some pajamas for the both of them and made the decision that Harry would probably most comfortable sleeping on the couch because it wasn't a bedroom-type setting.

They mad a cozy nest out of blankets and pillows and within a half hour, both were fast asleep, cuddled up together.


	4. Chapter 4

Louis woke up at about eight the next morning and, after staring at the younger boy in his arms like a creep for a few moments, decided he would attempt to make breakfast for the both of them. Key word there being attempt.

Harry awoke to the smell of burning pancakes and the incessant beeping of a smoke alarm. Momentarily, he forgot where he was and wondered why Niall hadn't just waited for him to wake up and make them breakfast, the realized he was in Louis house and that the older man must have been trying to do something nice for him. Well, it is the thought that counts.

Groggily, he sat up off the couch that was probably more comfortable than his bed and made his way toward the kitchen to find Louis scraping the burnt remains of pancakes off of a pan and into the trash, looking incredibly flustered, and Harry couldn't help but giggle, alerting Louis to his presence.

"Morning, would you maybe wanna, like, go out to get breakfast? Or there's some cereal in the cupboard, but God knows how long that's been there for," the man rambled, looking upset that his romantic plan of heart shaped pancakes had turned into almost burning his house down.

Harry just chuckled and started to mix up a new batch of pancake batter, throwing in just a few extra ingredients.

"What are you doing? You don't have to make me breakfast!" Louis told him, reaching to take the bowl away, only to get his hands lightly smacked away.

"You were trying to do it for me, and I happen to make the best pancakes in the entire universe, you can ask my mum," Harry joked, making Louis crack his first smile of the day.

Louis sat patiently on a bar stool as Harry finished making their breakfast, making smiley faces in the pancakes with some chocolate chips and bananas, then the two ate in a peaceful silence.

Once they had finished, Louis told Harry to go and get dressed in his clothes from yesterday while Louis cleaned the dishes, then he would drive him home.

Harry obliged, and sooner than he would have liked they were sitting in front of his apartment complex, the older man putting his number into Harry's phone before leaning in to give him a quick kiss on the lips that would hardly constitute as a proper kiss, Louis rushing things a bit because he had received a message from Zayn that he was needed ASAP.

"Make sure you send me a message before you head to work today, and don't call unless I've explicitly told you that you can." Louis told the younger boy, making Harry extremely curious as to why he couldn't call whenever he wanted, but Louis seemed in a rush so he didn't question it.

Harry stood outside to wave goodbye, then turned and ran inside as quickly as possible because it was -3°C and he was only in a sweater.

Upon entering the apartment he was tackled by a very worried Irishmen who, once they were both back on their feet, checked him over thoroughly for any signs of injury.

"He didn't sleep at all last night, and once he's satisfied you're not missing any limbs he'll more than likely tell you he hates you and isn't going to speak to you ever again," Niall's boyfriend of two years, Alex, informed Harry, chuckling.

"I did tell you I would be fine and if I wasn't I would've immediately called you to come and get me," Harry told his still incredibly worried best friend the same thing he had last night on the phone.

"Okay, but consider this, if you were dead how would you call me?" The blonde asked, making the other two boys to laugh at him.

"Well, I'm not dead, but I do need to take a shower and get ready for work, so are you willing to let me out of your sight for like, four hours?"


End file.
